Article Figures & Data

Figures

Distribution of significant voxels with increased gray matter density in the mathematicians relative to the control subjects (statistical significance is thresholded at P < .0001, uncorrected). Only clusters of voxels consisting of at least 100 voxels are displayed. The 3D overlay images demonstrate the regions with significantly increased gray matter density (red-labeled regions) in the mathematicians compared with the control subjects. The anatomic sectional images show the overlay of the results on the normalized T1-weighted images of a mathematician. The color scale on the T1-weighted images shows the ranges of T values.

A, The result of the regression analysis testing the correlation between gray matter density of the mathematicians and period of time spent as an academician is overlayed on the normalized T1-weighted images. They show that gray matter density in the right inferior parietal region (Talaraich coordinates: x = 57, y = −60, z = 34) of the mathematicians is strongly correlated with the duration of time spent as an academician (z = 7.28; P < .05, FWE corrected). B, The gray matter density values from the voxels showing the maximum correlation on the SPM regression analysis are extracted into SPSS. The scatter-plot graph shows the linear regression between the gray matter density and the duration of time spent as an academician (r = 0.84; P < .01). The middle line represents the linear regression, and the curves around it represent the 95% confidence intervals.